What an ugly and overwhelming story, that of Korah! Disconcerting on more than one level, distressing in more than one sense, it confronts the reader and forces him to reread it, so overwhelming and invasive is its perplexity. It is not at all astonishing that Rashi, the greatest of our biblical and talmudic interpreters, felt the need to draw our attention to the Midrash and its rich discussion of this first revoltorganized against Moses.a

Truth to tell, Korah is difficult to understand. Something about him escapes us and troubles us. Could it be that he is so nearly transparent, it seems easy, too easy, to grasp his motives, which can only be described as vile and base?